18 August 2013
Histb1301
Billy Adams
Article Review The main point I find after reading the article “Women and the American Revolution” is that women during Revolutionary War times had the same issues as women today with many more piled on top. Many women today are stay at home mothers like the women were then but they have more freedoms now. If a woman wants to serve their county by joining the military it is accepted now but it was not then. Women then were not even expected to give their opinion on many matters. The few women known to have served in the military during the Revolutionary War were said to be disguised as men when they did so. Some examples given to support the fact that women during the Revolutionary War
had many hardships are, Anne Eliza Bleecker, who was forced to leave her home with her two children to avoid the British Army. The author informs us that Bleecker was the mother of two in which one was a baby who she had to carry eighteen miles to Albany for safety. She did make it to Albany but tragically her baby died a few days after she arrive of fever. Someone else who had a difficulty during this time as expressed by the author was Maria Kittle whose daughter was killed by Indians. Single mothers today have it hard having to raise children with no help. It gets even harder when they have to work and/or go to school while raising children. During the Revolutionary War women raised and/or lost their children the Revolutionary women also had to take up the many responsibilities the husbands left behind when the men left to fight. They had to fill the role of protector which was very uncommon at that time. The women also had to ensure that the children had food to eat. Some of them had to “man” the farms to ensure the crops made it until the men returned if the men returned. Some strengths of this article would have to be the fact that the author did not just attempt to show the hardships women of the Revolutionary War had by speaking of only one woman she spoke of many different women who did not necessarily have the same issues during this time. She spoke of women who disguised themselves to serve in the military and also of women who cared for the farms while the men were away but also of women who protested and organized to fight as an all-woman militia. A second strength is the organization of the article. This article started from an earlier time and worked its way to a more recent time. The author also attempted to show how women were just as capable of doing many things as men were then and as capable as men are today by showing the many exploits of women during the Revolutionary War. The weaknesses I found in this article would have to be